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Holloway vs Pettis:
How Max used his lead leg in one of his finest performances (thread)
#UFCFightIsland7
How Max used his lead leg in one of his finest performances (thread)
#UFCFightIsland7
Holloway repeatedly hopped into range while raising his lead leg. This preliminary motion set up a variety of attacks that share the same telegraphing and mimicked lifting to check kicks
Max preoccupies Pettis with a stomp to the knee and attempts a lead hook. He regularly built offense off of this kick, landing singular punches or combinations
Front leg kicks pair well with Holloway’s jab which he routinely hooks off of including to the body. Both are noncommittal distance tools that set up more punishing offense
Here Holloway fakes by raising his knee and takes outside foot position to land a straight to the body. The threat of the previously established kick helps him close distance and take the dominant angle
He also threw oblique kicks w/ his rear leg, and used the same motion to switch stances or shift into combinations. This is one reason Holloway is at his best when he utilizes a kicking heavy strategy, the kicks give him ample opportunity to switch and conceal his movements
Holloway lifts his rear leg and steps through, landing a lead hook-body straight combo. He is faking a strike to halt Pettis, then shifting to cover distance and cutting off Anthony’s retreat with a punch to the now open side of his body
Raising the knee is also used to initiate exchanges, drawing a reaction to then counter. Effectively going first and third, while your opponents counter is second. Max looks for a check hook to answer Anthony moving forward
Max draws out a check and attempts to enter with a jab as Pettis defends. Holloway has forced defensive reactions out of Pettis that help him safely close distance
Holloway stomps Pettis’ lead leg, and ducks below his right hook, catching him off balance and sitting him down with a straight to the collarbone. He’s able to anticipate counters and position himself in order to capitalize on his opponents mistakes
Max didn’t limit himself to linear attacks. Here he hops into range, backs Pettis up with a straight and then kicks out his trailing leg. Beyond this exchange, lifting his lead leg helped conceal Holloway’s round kicks
Stepping with a light lead leg, Max rushes to take outside foot-position and trips Pettis rather than hitting his body as before. The similarity between these last two sequences makes it difficult to tell whether Max will kick or step to take the outside angle
Anthony begins the 3rd round with a series of low kicks, Holloway lifts his lead leg to check as he marches forward, discouraging the kicks and crowding a now retreating Pettis
Pettis begins to find consistent success with teeps, he is competing with Holloway by using linear kicks/checks of his own. Max has already overloaded him through diverse entries, he closes distance by raising his lead leg and shifts, crosscountering Pettis and then landing a jab
Holloway’s use of his lead leg was crucial to his success. His dynamic movements were used to create entries, attack the legs and defend against kicks. Max was able to control distance and dictate exchanges, while stifling Pettis when he opened up. Overall a brilliant performance
